+ Euros arriving at 2am, proceeding to open slam shut every cabinet, jump on beds, play loud music,

+ A freaky dude knocking on my door at 8pm, complaining that my TV was on, he wanted to go to bed,

+ High school kids having a massive party, live band, PA,

+ Early morning cleaning crews, not being gentle.

Yeah, my neighbor was clearly an inconsiderate piece of shit. But who to complain to? The landlord is absentee. AirBNB doesn't regard me as having any standing. In fact, I'm bearing part of the cost in order for AirBNB to profit, and I'm not OK with that.

So yeah, this legislation is required. I'm legally guaranteed the ability to enjoy the property that I'm leasing; AirBNB and other service like that subvert that. When they can police themselves, I'll be OK with them. Not until then.

I'd love to see this reasonable, succinct take on the 2nd Amendment enacted. Continued participation required to maintain gun ownership; instructors able to weed out bad actors, too. Solves many problems.

Innovation 2: Hidden cost reductions - getting Gateway boxes with "missing" SIMM slots, expansion card slots, etc.. I think that they were the first to quietly remove features that people took for granted - until they weren't there when you went to upgrade.

The PJB-100, the first disk-based MP3 player, was in my hands in 1999 - a full two years before the iPod. HP owned fundamental patents that could have taxed each unit that Apple sold - but seemed to be entirely unaware of that ownership.

If I had to guess, some mega business threatened to leave the state unless they started producing a workforce with some semblance of education. But that's just a guess - some monied interest was twisting arms, almost certainly.

This skew actually makes manufacturing a lot less sustainable in the US.

See, the real reason why China is so dominant at this point is that the supply chains have migrated there. Labor costs, adjusted for productivity, tariffs, shipping, etc. have about reached parity.

So, without a good supply chain, you have a hard time being a manufacturer.

The military pays silly prices for stuff. So that means that a company that sells to the military has a silly price sheet. Which means that they're not an option for a non-military manufacturer to use them as a supplier.

The problem is that too many suppliers are getting a taste of that sweet, sweet military money, and there are no available options for "normal" manufacturers. And then, lights out for an entire line of products that could be manufactured here, but won't be.

If the military budget ever gets slashed, expect a manufacturing comeback.

How do I know this? I'm a manufacturer here in the US, and this happens to us constantly.

It's great that Freescale is making a version of the ultralite that's easier to manufacture - but it'd be even better if they had a non-BGA version. BGA means "ball grid array", and it's one of the more difficult component in terms of electronics assembly.

Some companies charge a 3x premium if there are any BGAs at all. Having version that has the pins on the side (QFP), even if it was huge, or had less functionality, would allow for easier prototyping and assembly.

Actually, PowerPoint is so horrendously clunky and limited that even if you want to make a compelling presentation, it works against you. In short, the only thing that you can do easily is to use bullet points.

PowerPoint still cannot do what the long dead Persuasion could do, and do efficiently.

I'd love an decent alternative to PowerPoint, but it really doesn't exist.

People forget that there is another side here - the NYC resident. Consider that there's likely several people within 20 feet of me at any given time - this is the reality of big city living.

What AirBnB means to me is a diminished quality of life.

It means "guests" rolling in at 2am, feeling the need to open and close every door and cupboard (and waking up my household). Ringing my bell accidentally at all hours. Using AirBnB to find one-night party space. Smoking everywhere.

This is all from one apartment directly above me. If I complain to NYC, it means that they're sued to death and evicted (which I'm sorely tempted to do, but the punishment is very harsh). If I don't, I have to live in a noisier, less enjoyable circumstance.

And yes, I've taken the time to ask the folks upstairs to be more considerate. Their response? "It's our right", even though it's against the law.

The notion of "haves" and "have nots" are going to be about robots, not about money. There will be two kinds of people in the future - those that own the robots, and those that are either displaced or enslaved by them.

Automation is going to make the future rather bleak, indeed. Universal welfare, anyone?